Improvement in reefing fore and aft sails



, REEFING FORE Am A-F-T SAILS. No.174,425. Emu-ea March 7,1876.

A/iTN EEEEE I 1 W04 jab/M TNVENTUg NF'ETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C.

UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL O. LOUD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN REEFI| \|G FORE AND AFT SAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 174,425, dated March 7, 1876; application filed December 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL O; LOUD, of

Boston, vin the county of Suffolk and State of that method of reefing fore and aft sails where the gaff is hauled down to the mast, whereby the sail is reduced to a' triangular form, by ploviding the sail with a strong re-enforcingband passing diagonally down the sail, over and on which band the reefing takes, place; and it consists more particularly in doing away with the usual bagging of the sail when reefed by means of auxiliary reeling-lines F F, arranged as described.-

Figure l is an elevation, showing my sail unreefed. Fig. 2 is an elevation, showing my sail reefed.

A represents" the mast,.B the boom, and O the gatt'. The sail S S is made, as shown, with a strong re-enfoI'cing-band, 1), running from the sail at the outer end of the boom to the point at which the gafi" joins the mast. This band D serves as a reeling-line for the sail and admits of the upper part S of the sail being made of lighter duck than the lower part S. The gaff has a set of brails, E E E, Fig. 1, and E E E, Fig. 2, which are made fast atone end to the gaff, and which run to the eyes 6 c e outhe mast, so that either sets of these brails may be used to haul down the gaii' to the mast on Whichever side of the re-enforcingband 1) it may be desirable, according to the tack on which the vessel may be sailing. F, Fig. 1, and F, Fig. 2, is a line, made fast, as shown, to the after-leach rope of the part of the sail S, and its end running through eyes f on the mast. The gait" O is attached to the mast so as to swing freely in any direction, and is raised and lowered by the peak halyards H.

To reef my sail, I proceed as follows: First, loosen the halyards H, then draw in the brails EE E F, and at the same time loosen the lines EE E F, or vice versa. This action will draw the gaff 0 down to the mast, as shown in Fig. 2, and the partS of the sail will be folded securely and snugly in by the auxiliary reef-lines F F, by which the objectionable bagging of the sail occurring generally in this system of reefing will be avoided. (See Fig. 2, in which position the whole may be made fast.)

I am aware that it is not unusual to reef fore and aft sails by hauling the gafi down to the mast, thus reducing the sail to a triangular form, and such I do not claim broadly but What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is V In a fore and aft sail, the auxiliary brails F F, and leading-eyes 6, arranged as described, in combination with the re-enforcingband D .of the sail S S, gaff O, and brails E 'E, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

' SAMUEL 0. LOUD.

Witnesses:

FRANK G. PARKER, A. HUN BERRY. 

